Friday, January 13, 2017

Movie Review: “Silence”

** 1/2 out of 5
161 minutes!Rated R for some disturbing violent contentParamount PicturesArticle first published at TheReelPlace.com
I was hoping 2017 would start with a bang. We get a week full of
2016 films finally finding wide release. I was sure it would be a
fantastic way to get back into the swing of things after a three week
hiatus. When Monday was Ben Affleck’s Live by Night, Tuesday brought Peter Berg’s Patriots Day, and Wednesday came Martin Scorsese’s Silence, imagine my surprise when the best film of the week wound up being Live by Night. To be honest, I did decide to skip Patriots Day
after looking at the three films’ runtimes, but even if it was the only
film opening this week, not even Liam Neesons, Kylo Ren, and Spider-Man
can keep Silence — based on Shûsaku Endô’s 1966 novel — from
being a giant bore. Bring a couple cans of energy drinks folks, you’re
gonna need it.

Opening in 1633 Japan, we find Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) amidst a
group torture session. Ferreira’s narration lets us know that they are
Catholic missionaries in Nagasaki, and the locals have forced him into
apostasy. His last letter has found its way back to Jesuit priest
Alessandro Valignano (Ciarán Hinds) in Maccau, where Ferreira’s pupils
Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garrpe (Adam Driver) insist on traveling
to Japan to find Ferreira and prove that there’s no way he would have
committed such an appalling act. After finding a guide in the form of
Kichijiro (Yôsuke Kubozuka), the two young priests sneak their way into
Japan. They must keep their identity hidden, while trying to navigate
the Buddhist landscape where they find more help in the secret Christian
village of Tomogi. Soon enough, Rodrigues finds his way to Ferreira
where his own destiny awaits.

I think whether you’ll find Silence captivating or a total
snooze-fest lies on where you sit with religion in general. If you are a
religious person, you’re bound to find the film captivating. While it
is indeed riveting for the most part, I am absolutely not a religious
person and couldn’t have cared less what happens to any of the
characters. Scorsese is known for his sprawling epic masterpieces, but Silence
is too polarizing to be considered a masterpiece. A lot of talk has
been made about the film taking Scorsese 25 years to get made, well
that’s about how long the movie will feel to most viewers.

The performances are at least top notch so if you do have an
interest, you definitely will not be spared on that front. But there was
absolutely no need for the film to be 161 minutes long. The same could
be said about most films, but even Quentin Tarantino’s over three-hour Hateful Eight
at least found ways to keep the runtime paced at full hilt. Considering
how much money faith-based films have managed to make over the last few
years, there is hope that Silence will find an audience. I will
never find a reason to ever sit through it again. I can’t even see
hardcore Scorsese fans finding themselves loving the film. I know that’s
not the point, the director made the film he’s always wanted to make
and at least it’s something he can finally check off his bucket list.